Afghan investigators take lead
 By Capt. Gina Goris , 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
  Australian Sgt. Ben Gilbey teaches a student in an Evidence-based Operations course properly dust for fingerprints as Capt. Sean Kemp supervises the training at Multinational Base Tarin Kot, Afghanistan, Feb. 27, 2013. The student is part of the Afghan Uniform Police Criminal Investigation Division. (Photo by Australian Army Maj. Chris Linden)
 TARIN KOT, Afghanistan (March 5, 2013) — Afghan Uniform Police investigators will soon be leading the way in training other Afghan Criminal Investigation Teams to gather evidence used to prosecute criminals and insurgents in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. The first eight Afghan Uniform Police, or AUP, Criminal Investigation Division officers graduated from the Evidence Based Operations, or EvBo, train-the-trainer course held at Uruzgan Province Police Training Center on Multinational Base Tarin Kot, Feb. 25-28. “This type of training is one of a kind. The training enables the Afghan Police to train their own investigators on how to collect, analyze, and present evidence in a court of law and legitimizes the legal prosecution of criminals within the Uruzgan province,” said Lt. Col. William Phillips, commander of the U.S. Security Force Police Assistance Team of the 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. This is the first EvBo course held in Uruzgan, according to Law Enforcement Police Advisor Davy Aguilera, who is assigned to the Combined Team Uruzgan Security Force Assistance Team. “This course was designed specifically to teach Afghan investigators already working in the Criminal Investigation Department the skills and techniques to instruct other police on how to conduct crime scene forensic collection and case preparation within Uruzgan,” Aguilera said. Every student that graduated from the training at the Police Training Center received a certificate of completion a student/instructor course handbook, a fingerprint kit and EvBo CDs to help them teach their own classes. Afghan Police Training Center commander Lt. Col. Del Agha presented the certificates with distinguished guests from Afghan counter-intelligence and CID. “I thank the coalition for providing this training. I am proud of our new Afghan instructors, but now it is important for them to pass on the knowledge they received to other police officers within Uruzgan,” Del Agha said. Aguilera said that the EvBo training will set the Afghan Police up for success. So it is important that the students understood all the information presented and felt comfortable teaching others. “The new Afghan instructors are the future instructors of Afghanistan, with the new skills they received they will be able to teach other policeman how to identify, collect, and analyze evidence at a crime scene,” Aguilera said. The Afghan Uruzgan Province Counterterrorism director Abdul Khaliq agreed with Aguilera’s assessment in his speech at the students EvBo graduation. “Your training and future instruction to other police investigators will improve our profession by ensuring we find and prosecute the real criminals,” said Afghan Uruzgan province counter-terrorism director Abdul Khaliq. The course is designed to ensure that the police can sustain operations and improve their profession by giving the Afghan police officers the responsibility to teach this information. The students all signed a training relationship agreement with their instructors promising to teach what they learned to the AUP. One student, Saeed Kalan, who had the highest grade point average, said the EvBo instructors provided him with the tools he would need to teach other police in the future. “First, I do it for my country,” he said. “And second, I do it because I like my job and it is my duty to take the training techniques, books, and knowledge that my instructors provided me and teach other police investigators in my country on how to conduct investigations.” Click here for video of the demonstration.